Page 26 - PWM2025_DECEMBER EBOOK

BETTER BUSINESS

Talented

recruiting

Just as there’s often more than one way to skin a
cat, so there’s more than one way for a print firm to
recruit the staff they need. Naturally, the route
chosen will vary according to the role, technical
skills required and seniority. But how is the market
at present?, by Adam Bernstein
ulie Pollard, director, shift roles and positions in remote or
Mercury Search and high-cost areas are also particularly
Selection, begins by saying challenging.
that “whenever someone But overriding all of this, the
asks me how the market is, majority of Mercury’s clients, reck-
J ays tempted to say ons Pollard, “see the value in top tal-
w
I’m al
which one?” Her point is that there’s ent so a large proportion of our
much diversity in print and packaging placements are clients creating roles
and she sees much variation in trad- to accommodate high performers as
ing and demand across them. soon as they are available rather than
Not unsurprisingly, she says that waiting for a desperate need”.
good salespeople are always in It appears that firms are calculat-
demand. And in relation to produc- ing and actively viewing these indi-
tion, litho printers, finishers for car- viduals as an opportunity to add value
tons, small- format digital printers and grow their businesses. This is
and finishers, and gluers in cartons why she says that “it is so important
and corrugated, are peaking at the for employers and recruiters to be
moment. But she is also “seeing less working in partnership on a continu- “the average age within the available talent pool is high, and as more skilled
demand for litho printers in com- ous basis rather than only having operators retire each year, that pool continues to shrink”.
mercial print as so many are switch- contact when a vacancy arises”. He adds that a significant drop in the number of printing companies
ing to packaging”. could, in theory, help balance supply and demand. But as he tells candi-
And George Thompson, joint man- Times are a-changing dates, “if you’re still active in print today, you’ve almost certainly proven
aging director of Harrison Scott Print has followed the trends of yourself to be a skilled and resilient operator”.
Associates, is witnessing something other sectors as technology use has Thompson says that roles are becoming more equipment-oriented, espe-
similar. grown and workers have aged. cially with the rise in automation. He suggests that while litho minders are
He reports that the market is very Pollard worries, as a result, that highly skilled, many haven’t had formal digital training – and they ought to
“candidate-driven” at the moment, there’s “a dwindling skill set in the “but there’s a reluctance or skills gap among older operators”.
noting that “there’s strong demand industry”. It helps that some forward-thinking employers are investing in cross-
across most production roles, but the She says that her firm has “com- training, which Thompson says is essential “as the lines between litho, dig-
supply of experienced candidates is mented for many years that appren- ital, and finishing continue to blur”.
tight”. He says that the most in- ticeships have been in decline and Geography matters
demand roles include flexo opera- there just isn’t enough noise about
tors, digital press operators and the industry for the younger genera- Another issue to consider is geography. Experience tells Pollard that it
skilled finishers with experience on tion to make them look into roles can be more difficult to secure staff in the south east as the journey times
guillotines, folders, and die-cutting within the industry”. Experience is are so much higher than they are in the north: “A 20-mile journey in the
or foiling machinery. becoming, in her view, “very much in north would take 20 minutes, in the south east that can easily take over an
The hardest to fill roles are those the minority”. hour. And in the south west, a relatively low population density means
requiring niche machinery knowl- And Thompson sees the same and there are just fewer people to choose from.”
edge as well as finishers with exper- considers it a real challenge. He also But Pollard also offers another perspective on geography – that it is clear
tise across multiple devices. Night has concerns over age and says that that there are given areas in the UK with manufacturing hubs for certain

24 PrintWeek MENA December 2025 www.printweekmena.com